Denuvo loses anti-piracy battle as games get cracked on the first day of release

[Len]

It seems no security measure is too hard for hackers, as Denuvo, dubbed as the best digital rights management (DRM) security for video games is being cracked as soon as its host video game launches.

The latest PC video games utilizing the Denuvo DRM have been cracked within 24 hours since the games' release. "South Park: The Fractured But Whole" is the latest title to include Denuvo as its anti-piracy measure, but ultimately fell victim to hackers as they uploaded a "cracked" copy of the game for everyone to download without having to pay.

Previously, Denuvo's longest record of keeping a game uncracked was 300 days, this was for "Dragon Age: Inquisition which was released back in 2014 but only got a cracked and free version almost a year later.

Last week saw "Middle-Earth: Shadow of War" getting cracked within a day of release and last month's "Total War: Warhammer 2" and "FIFA 18" shared the same fate. One game, "The Evil Within 2" was supposedly launching with Denuvo, as is evident in its pre-release copies having the DRM, but instead opted to scrap the security measure since the game would've been cracked immediately as well anyway.

Now, Denuvo and the company behind it are seemingly under pressure since it is not serving its intended purpose for video games, which is to stave off any piracy attempt for at least one month in order for video game companies to generate a genuine sales momentum for their games. "Our goal is to keep each title safe from piracy during the crucial initial sales window when most of the sales are made," Denuvo VP of Sales Robert Hernandez said.

Still, this does not mean that Denuvo is going will wallow in defeat for long, as the company has had a history of updating their DRM with several more impregnable variants. This means that they may be planning something in response to the cracking escalation from several hackers. Ars Technica speculates a release of the fifth version of Denuvo is a possibility since the company needs to redeem its name.

As of now though, the company may have a difficult time re-establishing its reputation, as several video game publishers and developers who had initially planned to employ the DRM for their games have now dropped the prospect.